Emma Stone

Review: The Croods

The Croods raises some interesting questions. Such as: where can I find me some giant corncobs? What's up with that flying tortoise/parrot thing? Is it weird to be attracted to an animalistic red-headed cave girl who runs on all fours? And why can’t I stop staring at that dude's distractingly convincing CGI nipples? At least, these were my thoughts upon leaving the screening of this film. I hope for their sake that the children in attendance weren’t thinking the same as me.

Review: Gangster Squad

It turns out that I have a small issue with a lot of gangster films, which I didn't realise until watching Gangster Squad. For all their sharp-suited, Tommy gun-wielding adventures, most feel the need to bring home the heavy-hitting drama underlying it all. Of course, there's no problem with this, but it seems to me that Hollywood has spent so long trying to tell us the real story behind some of history's most infamous outlaws, that it seems to have forgotten how to tell us the fake, fun, irresponsible version. This is where Gangster Squad chimes in; a film so gloriously cartoony at times that it feels ripped from the frames and pages of a graphic novel. Even though it is actually um... based on true events.

How to sell Gangster Squad to Korea

Eastern moviegoing audiences have proved to be a massively untapped market this year, so it's only natural that Warner Bros would want to tailor the marketing for Gangster Squad to make it successful overseas. If you ask me, there's a home run waiting to be hit in South Korea with just a few new tweaks and edits.

So, Rhys Ifans: what's your preferred real-life method of spider removal?

Thanks to Rachel at Way To Blue for asking Rhys our hard-hitting question. The Amazing Spider-Man is out now. (Review here).

Review: The Amazing Spider-Man

One of the most difficult things about being a film critic (you there, no laughing at the back) is divorcing the film you're watching from any of the surrounding hysteria. Maybe the film has arrived on a tidal wave of hype; maybe you're aware of a troubled production; or, let's say, for argument's sake, it's a reboot of a movie, or series of movies, that you hold dear. These things can influence an opinion; it's your job to make sure they don't. The Amazing Spider-Man is one of the first movies I've had to review where I felt I literally couldn't review the 136 minutes of film I saw without commenting on the fact that I fundamentally disagree with the fact that it exists.

Watch The Amazing Spider-Man online for free! Wow, thanks Sony!

One clever sort has cobbled together all of the available promotional material for The Amazing Spider-Man and made a 25-minute mini-movie. Yeah, this pretty much covers it.

Just in case you needed another reason to <3 Emma Stone

Emma Stone on Ellen (courtesy of @cassamlooch)

Review: Crazy Stupid Love

Crazy Stupid Love is a movie that wants it all. It's a romcom that knows it's a romcom and wants you to know it knows it's a romcom. Characters reference popular movies and the clichés therein; by pointing out the elephants in the room, they're allowing us in on the joke. "Damn, love is crazy and stupid," they nudge and wink to us, but because they acknowledge the craziness and stupidity of movie romance, they assume they'll get away with it. Luckily for us, the characters of Crazy Stupid Love are so darn charming, they do.

Oh Spider-Man, you so amazing

After two successive bootlegs leaked online, the official trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man has landed. Consensus? Oooooh.

Emma Stone offered Mary-Jane in Spider-Man reboot

Update: Emma Stone was actually cast as Gwen Stacy, not Mary-Jane. Sorry about that. Blame the internet. --- Face it movie fans...you just hit the jackpot, as the star of the surprise hit Easy A might swing with Andrew Garfield in the Spider-Man reboot.